In a sarcastic act, the Shomron Regional Council has given Peace Now
head Yariv Oppenheimer and far-left activist attorney Michael Sefard,
the legal advisor to the Yesh Din organization, “honorary
citizenship” in the communities of Bruchin, Rechelim and Kiryat
Netafim.

The two were sent certificates recognizing their honorary
citizenship, which they have been given because of the “contribution”
they made to bringing about the approvals of the construction plans
of the three communities.

The construction plans for all three communities were approved after
Peace Now and Yesh Din appealed to the Supreme Court, claiming that
homes in the communities were illegally built.

Bruchin was established in the 1980s based on a government decision,
but the defense minister avoided signing its final construction plan
for many years, leading to the community being listed as an “illegal
outpost” in the 2005 report by Attorney Talia Sasson, a candidate on
the leftist Meretz’s Knesset list who was appointed by then-Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon to author a report on outposts in Judea and
Samaria.

The Shomron Regional Council brought dozens of Knesset members and
ministers to visit Bruchin and see for themselves the injustice done
to the residents, who were unable to even build daycares because the
community was “illegal.” The State later told the Supreme Court, in
response to a petition by leftist organizations, that it will be
approving the signing of Bruchin’s final construction plan.

Similar petitions by Peace Now and Yesh Din brought about the
approvals of construction plans for Rechelim and Kiryat Netafim.
Kiryat Netafim was one of six communities that Defense Minister Ehud
Barak legalized in April of 2011. Rechelim and Bruchin were on a list
of three communities the state announced it would legalize three
months ago.

Oppenheimer and Sefard were “awarded” their honorary citizenships
during a meeting this week of the Shomron Regional Council plenum in
Bruchin. The head of the Shomron Regional Council, Gershon Mesika,
said during the meeting, “The idea [to sarcastically honor
Oppenheimer and Sefard] came following the approval of the three
communities. Kiryat Netafim, established about thirty years ago by
the State, was without a signature for its construction plan by the
Minister of Defense, who refused to sign it for years. Since the
Sasson report, the community’s residents lived without the
possibility to build or develop the community, causing them great
suffering.”